Wardak PC elects women to leadership roles

KABUL (Pajhwok): For the first time in Afghanistan, three women were elected to top administrative posts by the Provincial Council of central Maidan Wardak province on Saturday.

The elected provincial public representatives voted on Saturday to elect the council’s new administrative board. The 15-member council elected all three female members in the body as head, deputy head and secretary.

The spokesman for Maidan Wardak governor, Abdul Rahman Mangal, said like other provinces, the election to choose members of the provincial council’s administrative board had been transparent and fair in the province.

The Maidan Wardak provincial council has 15 members, including three women, who all were elected to the top posts.

Mangal said 13 members of the council took part in the election held under watch of the Election Commission’s technical team, media representatives and other electoral observers.

He said council members Halima Askari and Dr. Asmatullah Asim vied for the slot of the council’s head while Nasifa Selai Wardak and Sharifullah Hotak eyed the deputy head position.

Halima Askari collected nine votes from the present 13 members, winning the contest while Selai Wardak obtained eight votes and was elected as deputy head.

Hajira Mirzai was elected unopposed as secretary of the provincial council. All members of the council voted for Mirzai.

The provincial government spokesman said it was for the first time in Maidan Wardak that women were elected to the council’s administrative board to assume leadership role.

The newly elected head, Halima Askari, and other elected members of the board vowed to monitor government’s activities and fully cooperate with the provincial government.

Social media user differed over the election of women to the Maidan Wardak council administrative board, with many reciting a famous Pashtu Tapa “که له سړو پوره نه شوه، ګرانه وطنه جنکۍ به دې ګټينه"

(If the men could not, Oh beloved country, the girls would salvage you (from the enemy).”